Life Lines by Dr. Dolittle

Tag Archive for ‘immune’

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Out of the cave and into the lab: Why it’s time to go bat-ty in research!

As we talked about previously, bats are amazing mammals. Like Batman, they fly and fight off many potential enemies. – albeit their enemies are typically microscopic as opposed to cartoon-like super-villains. Their remarkable resilience to cancers and various pathogens has attracted the attention of scientists and even resulted in the formation of the Bat1K Consortium aimed at sequencing the genome of various species of bats to search for clues that […]

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Immune to cancer

Bats are known for their strong immune systems and impressive longevity. In fact, some species live 20 years or more in the wild. Unlike many long-lived species, however, cancer is a rare occurrence in bats. A new study published in Genome Biology and Evolution examined the link between immune function and cancer resistance in bats. The team characterized the genome of Jamaican fruit bats (Artibeus jamaicensis) and Mesoamerican mustached bats […]

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Understanding aging in dogs may help us all live longer

“Dog Aging Project” was founded by aging researchers Drs. Matt Kaeberlein and Daniel Promislow (University of Washington) along with Kate Creevy who is currently the Chief Veterinary Officer. The goal of the project is to examine how the environment affects healthy aging and longevity in dogs and to test anti-aging treatments. This research has the potential to also impact how we understand environmental risk factors for aging in humans as […]

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Ever wonder how a swim bladder works?

Swim bladders are special organs filled with air that help regulate the buoyancy of some bony fish, like teleosts. Check out this YouTube video which explains how the swim bladder works: Because the inner surface of this organ is lined with mucosa, researchers suspected it may contain immune cells and microbes – similar to the inner lining of mammalian lungs. In a study published in Cell Discovery, researchers confirmed the […]

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How snakes fight infection quickly

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day today, I thought we’d talk about snakes today. Vertebrates defend themselves from infections with the help of the adaptive and innate immune systems. The first responder to an infection is typically the innate immune system, which is not specific to a particular pathogen. This system helps to prevent the infection from spreading and uses various toxins to kill pathogens. The adaptive immune response, on […]

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The complex interplay between pathogens and our immune system

I read an interesting review article explaining how cells evolved the ability to kill off pathogens and, in turn, how pathogens evade death. It is kind of like a perpetual game of ‘cat and mouse’ in which the interaction between animals and pathogens drives the evolution of host defenses against infections while at the same time driving the evolution of pathogen strategies to avoid detection. According to the review article, […]

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Mice have special ‘jumping genes’ that help them survive viral infections

Researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney discovered a ‘jumping gene’ that prevents the immune system of mice from overreacting to a viral infection. Jumping genes are movable nucleic acids, or transposable elements, that make up nearly 2/3 of the genome in mammals. They help regulate the expression of genes. Some transposable elements in the genome are new and some originated in ancient times. In the new […]

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Towards developing treatments for inflammation

Neutrophils are specialized immune cells that becomes activated in response to foreign particles or microorganisms. Think of them like security guards in your body. As they travel through the blood, their job is to detect and get rid of invading microorganisms. They also help spark inflammation responses to infections. For these reasons, they are known to help maintain homeostasis in the body, but they can also play roles in disease […]

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Polar bears summering on land exposed to more pathogens

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) living near the southern Beaufort Sea are spending more time on land during the summer months than in years past as a result of climate change and melting sea ice. Researchers wanted to know whether bears that spent more time on land were exposed to more pathogens compared to those who spent more time on sea ice. Their results, published in the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, showed […]

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Elasmobranchs may hold clues for treating blood disorders

As you may already know, bone marrow contains cells that specialize in both bone as well as blood maintenance. Stem cells destined to become white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets are called hematopoietic stem cells (aka: HSCs). CXCL12 is a special ligand that helps keep HSCs in the bone marrow by acting as a chemical attractant for the chemokine receptor C-X-C (CXCR4) found on HSCs. Some researchers are […]

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